The Female Line

This is the story of Emily DeLisle, a bastard born of a commoner and a member of the Aristocracy. As a child, neglected by her father Lord Montagu, Emily always dreamed of the mother she was never allowed to see. She was told by her father that her mother was insane. As she got older, and increasingly more secluded as a result of her fathers ever expanding nursery, Emily found peace through her love for nature. When an arranged marriage became set up for her with the son of an Earl, Emily found some form of happiness at last until the night after the wedding, she and her brother Alain are kidnapped and taken to Vermontei, a French village notorious for its association with a witch coven. These evil women lay undercover as herbalists during the day, yet by night they visit the undergrowth of the village, where they perform rituals and spells, on lovers, friends and the political order. As Emily finally meets her mother for the first time, she realises the new powers that have opened up to her. Her fate is seemingly written as the chief of this coven and the title of the new mistress of Lucifer is bestowed upon her. However when she gives birth to her own daughter, Emily must choose between confinement in the undergrowth of Vermontei, or to escape the coven with her daughter and brother, and back to the life she once knew with neglectful father and over attentive husband.